1 Corinthians 13
1 Though I speake with the tongues of men and Angels, and haue not loue, I am as sounding brasse, or a tinkling cymbal.
If I were to have eloquence in human languages—even the language of angels—but have no love, then I would only be an echoing gong or a clashing cymbal.
2 And though I had the gift of prophecie, and knewe all secrets and all knowledge, yea, if I had all faith, so that I could remooue mountaines and had not loue, I were nothing.
If I were to speak prophecies, to know every secret mystery and be completely knowledgeable, and if I were able to have so much faith I could move mountains, but have no love, then I am nothing.
3 And though I feede the poore with all my goods, and though I giue my body, that I be burned, and haue not loue, it profiteth me nothing.
If I were to donate everything I own to the poor, or if I were to sacrifice myself to be burned as a martyr, and have no love, then I gain nothing.
4 Loue suffreth long: it is bountifull: loue enuieth not: loue doeth not boast it selfe: it is not puffed vp:
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud.
5 It doeth no vncomely thing: it seeketh not her owne things: it is not prouoked to anger: it thinketh not euill:
Love does not act improperly, or insist on having its own way. Love is not argumentative and doesn't keep a record of wrongs.
6 It reioyceth not in iniquitie, but reioyceth in the trueth:
Love takes no delight in evil but celebrates the truth.
7 It suffreth all things: it beleeueth all things: it hopeth all things: it endureth all things.
Love never gives up, keeps on trusting, stays confident, and remains patient whatever happens.
8 Loue doeth neuer fall away, though that prophecyings be abolished, or the tongues cease, or knowledge vanish away.
Love never fails. Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues will become silent. Knowledge will become useless.
9 For we knowe in part, and we prophecie in part.
For our knowledge and our prophetic understanding are incomplete.
10 But when that which is perfect, is come, then that which is in part, shalbe abolished.
But when completeness comes, then what is incomplete disappears.
11 When I was a childe, I spake as a childe, I vnderstoode as a childe, I thought as a childe: but when I became a man, I put away childish thinges.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I grew up I left behind such child-like ways.
12 For nowe we see through a glasse darkely: but then shall wee see face to face. Nowe I know in part: but then shall I know euen as I am knowen.
At the moment we peer into a mirror's dim reflection, but then we shall see face to face. For now I only have partial knowledge, but then I shall know completely, just as I am completely known.
13 And nowe abideth faith, hope and loue, euen these three: but the chiefest of these is loue.
Trust, hope, and love last forever—but the most important is love.
